Short-packet communication (SPC) has been specified as one of key technologies for the fifth generation (5G) networks because of its ability to provide high reliability and low end-to-end (e2e) latency [1]}. SPC supports a wide range of ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) applications, such as intelligent transportation systems, high-speed trains, drones, factory automation, and Internet-of-Things (IoT) networks [2]}.
Recent works on URLLC mainly focused on SPCs with single-hop or dual-hop transmissions in factory automation, where the stringent requirements on reliability and latency are \(99.999\%\)  and 1 ms, respectively [2]}, [4]}.
